Formed in 1985, the Bay Area group Insanity helped shift metal from its thrash phase toward death metal. A major factor was drummer Bud Mills, whose “1-1” pattern foreshadowed today’s blastbeat. The band’s music matched its name by pushing thrash tempos into frantic overdrive while displaying technical skill that felt ahead of its era. Throughout the 1980s underground tape-trading scene, Insanity earned worldwide recognition, and musicians from Carcass and Napalm Death later named the group as an influence. Repeated setbacks, however, kept the band from commercial breakthrough.
Its original lineup featured vocalist Joe DeZuniga, guitarist Dave Gorsuch, bassist Keith Ellison, and drummer Bud Mills. A 1985 rehearsal recording made with a Walkman and stereo microphone in a garage quickly circulated through the global metal underground. Napalm Death later recorded a version of “Fire Death Fate” for Leaders Not Followers, Pt. 2, while Snakepit magazine pressed the demo to 7-inch for its fifteenth-anniversary issue. Insanity’s first live appearance took place on October 19, 1985, when the band opened for Death at Ruthie’s Inn in the Bay Area.
Two misfortunes soon halted the group’s momentum: Mills served a ten-month prison term, and DeZuniga died of heart disease on May 16, 1987. After DeZuniga’s death, frequent personnel changes made stability difficult. The only album to appear during this period, Death After Death, was issued in 1994 by the German label M.B.R.; the lineup at the time consisted of the sole remaining original member Gorsuch, guitarist Matt Janko, bassist Joe Landers, and drummer Prakash Sharma. Sharma’s subsequent back problems led the band to dissolve that same year.
Insanity regrouped in 1997 with Lou Gilberto on bass and Mills returning on drums. The members re-recorded Death After Death with fresh vocal and guitar parts, and this configuration released the three-song Sacrifixion EP before breaking up again in 2001. Another reunion followed in 2005 for a short California tour. That year also brought the compilation From the Grave on Parasitic Twin Productions, which gathered the 1985 demo, Death After Death, and assorted eight-track recordings; liner notes were contributed by Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway and Exhumed’s Matt Harvey.
Mills rejoined early in 2007 for a Los Angeles Murderfest appearance alongside Repulsion, Atheist, and Obituary. In September of that year he received a diagnosis of esophageal cancer and died on November 14, 2007. At the time the band had been preparing the album Visions of Apocalypse and chose to complete the project using Mills’ pre-production drum tracks.
